Day off for Bruins

It’s probably safe to say that anyone who gets a paycheck with the words Boston Professional Hockey Association, Inc. on it slept their requisite eight hours last night.

Finally.

Judging by the post game interviews on NESN, it sounds as if the players are resting a little easier this morning, not only because of the win, but because they were rewarded with a day off.

"I think the guys responded pretty well from the last game," said winning goalie Joey MacDonald to NESN’s Rob Simpson. "I thought we got outworked there in Pittsburgh and we had a hard day yesterday and I think (we) responded well."

"I thought that we played really well for 60-minutes. We didn’t make any mistakes in the neutral zone and we were putting pucks at the net and that is how we scored," he explained, adding that his goal was important because it won the game, not because he scored it against his former team. "I’m not looking at it that way. I just want to win as many games as possible.

"This year we didn’t do that well, but we’ll be learning from that, and we want to be better."

Yesterday was a small step, but a step nonetheless.

"I think overall we worked really hard," said Bruins head coach Dave Lewis, "I think that was the biggest difference.

"Three games in four nights didn’t bother us.

"You have to find a way to do it, and tonight we did it," said Lewis.

With Sidney Crosby and the Pens coming in on Thursday, the Bruins hope to turn those positives into another win at the expense of a conference leader. And it might just be up to the kids to do it against ’Sid the Kid.’

"I played a lot of minutes down there in Providence," said Mark Stuart after his yeoman like work on Tuesday. "I just tried to get better, working on things they wanted me to work on.

"I’m feeling more comfortable up here the more I play."

Petr Kalus was feeling more than comfortable yesterday, as he scored his first NHL goal.

Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe sets the scene:In the second period, forward Mike Fisher gave the Senators a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal, but Petr Kalus, playing in his third NHL game, picked the right time to score his first career goal.

Kalus, playing left wing on a line with Mark Mowers and Shean Donovan, started the play with some strong forechecking deep in the zone. Once the Bruins gained control of the puck, Kalus drove to the net. Mowers found the rookie and set him up with a pass that Kalus shoveled past Emery at 4:08.As Kalus celebrated, Dennis Wideman retrieved the puck and handed it to equipment manager Mark Dumas for safe keeping.

"I couldn’t believe that," said the 19-year-old winger, one of Boston’s brighter prospects. "I was so happy. I didn’t know what to do. It was a great feeling."

Kalus, who also saw power-play time on the No. 2 unit, completed the game with 14 shifts and 11:18 of ice time. He recorded two hits and one takeaway, and although Lewis noticed some things the rookie has to learn in his own zone, the coach liked the excitement that Kalus brought to the game.

Pittsburgh will bring their own excitement to the Garden tomorrow. With 98 points, and two games in hand, they have the Eastern Conference leader Buffalo Sabres in their sights.